"HOUSE" by Frank E. Peretti & Ted DeKker

My favorite two authors...Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker...TOGETHER!

I just finished "House" by these two and it really pains me to admit that I was not as thrilled as I thought I'd be.

The story immediately sucked me in. I was scared and kinda creeped out as the story unfolded. The first half kept me turning pages and I kept trying to guess what was REALLY going on. Would it be supernatural (like Peretti's "This Present Darkness")? Or would there be a logical-but-still-spiritual explanation (like Dekker's "Three")? However, at a certain point in the story, I began to feel exhausted by the repetitiveness. They ran and hid, and then they ran and hid some more...

With all this running and hiding it seemed a little confusing when BAM! out of the blue, the "answer" to the problem is revealed. While I don't want to give the story away, it seemed like perhaps the characters, who were not "Christians", understood it too easily. You'd think they would need a little more explanation to fully understand what needed to be done. More build-up to the climax, if you will. Furthermore, I didn't find the "redeemer" all that likable, so it was hard to reconcile that with the ending.

Maybe my expectations were too high for this collaborative effort. Maybe I had preconceived notions that ruined it for me. I admit that I was expecting a story about a "house" that ended up being the story of what was inside a person - ("Lord, I'll let you clean out this room where I keep my gossiping tongue, but I wont let you in this cob-web-filled room where the bitterness monster lives).

Like I say, these two authors are my favorites. I do look forward to any future works they create, whether it's individually, or as a team. I give "House" a "so-so" rating.